30th April 2017 - Getting There (and YouTube)

Well, as I'm sure you've seen I've started a YouTube channel, which was a bit scary (and I need to stop saying 'erm') but I'm hoping it's a nice addition to the blog and will bring some of the posts to life - literally!  Please let me know if there is anything you would like to particularly see me do.

 I can't remember if I told you that it was the allotment inspection a couple of weeks ago.  We have inspections twice a year, normally one in the spring and one at the end of summer.  They aren't about seeing what people are growing but more about checking that the plots are being cultivated and looked after and that tenants don't have carpets on their plots (one of the few rules we have).  

Because I am the site representative I have to do the inspections with the council's allotment officer and so I was slightly mortified to have one bed that was sooooo overgrown.  I therefore cheated and covered it with weed membrane so that she couldn't see how bad it was lol.  I'm sure that she wouldn't have been at all bothered but it was important to me.  

I do occasionally use a weed killer from QVC (part of the Richard Jackson's range) but I do find it particularly satisfying to get on my kneeler pad with a hand fork and clear the bed by hand.  It took 4 buckets full of weeds to clear it but as you can see all I need now is a good covering of manure and it will be ready for my brassicas to be planted out.  I will say though, that last year I used the council manure and when I cleared this bed I could see that the majority of the weeds were just in the top couple of inches, or just in the manure from last year!  Lots of manure will come with weed seeds so whilst manure is great for adding organic matter to your soil but you should keep a close eye on it to keep on top of any weeds that might appear.

I have this weird love of wood and stumps, I really think an old rotting stump is amazing; the life they hold as well as how pretty they are (I know, I'm strange!)  I was looking for some old bits of wood to add to my woodpile in the corner for all my little bugs and creatures to hide in next to the pond, and I came across a really lovely old stump that I have put next to the pond.  I think it looks lovely and can't wait to see what happens to it over the coming years.  I also helped to cut down part of a willow tree that had got really overgrown into the path and I managed to grab a nicely shaped stump that is going to go where my England Gnome currently stands.  It has a nice shape in the middle that I might be able to plant something into so that could be a really pretty feature.  

My polytunnel is still jam packed full of plants waiting to go out, I think I've said before that I don't plant out until after the Chelsea Flower Show because by then I know that I'm totally safe from frost and so there's still lots going on behind the scenes but at the moment the beds all still have their covers on and I've started to put the manure down ready for planting.  I can't wait to get going and so some of my more hardy seedlings will probably be out in the next couple of weeks and then it will definitely look more like a worked allotment.  

My final pics this week are two that I took after I left the allotment at around 8.30pm on Bank Holiday Monday.  My allotment is in the valley of the town where I live and my house is at the top of the hill. As I drove up the hill I had to pull over to take pictures of the sunset which just looked amazing.  I really do love it when you stand looking over the town and see the sun setting over the Yorkshire Dales in the distance, it reminds me how lucky I am to live in Yorkshire, despite how cold it still is up here when other people are frost free down south! 

I hope the weather has started to turn now and we can look forward to some warmer weather.  Until next time then....

Happy Gardening!